Posts Tagged ‘Kumkum’

Shyama was one of the most beautiful actresses to have graced the screen. She was charming, gorgeous, lively, expressive and there was something very refreshing about her.

It was her birthday on 7th June. Though a little late, here’s wishing her a very Happy Birthday!!!

Her real name was Khurshid Akhtar. Shyama, her screen name, was given to her by Guru Dutt.

I haven’t seen many movies of hers, apart from Bhabhi. Chhoti Behen and Sharda (And she has a bit of grey shade to her character in all these movies). But I love most of the songs picturized on her.

Shyama and Geeta Dutt – This is one deadly combination. Geeta’s voice suited Shyama’s vivacious-ness so well. Not that I am restricting my list only to this jodi but couldn’t help mentioning it.

1. Ae dil mujhe bata de (Bhai Bhai, 1956) : I didn’t want to include this song in this list as it had already featured in my Geeta Dutt special post. But I couldn’t help it, simply couldn’t move ahead without this one. It’ one of my all time favourites! Ae dil mujhe bata de tu kispe aa gaya hai, woh kaun hai jo aakar khwabon pe chha gaya hai…They say you are in love when kuch kuch hota hai… Hmmm, let me rephrase that – they say you are in love when somebody walks into your life, starts being a part of your every dream, when your every thought begins revolving around him/her and changes your life forever without you even realizing it and you dont mind when you do. And it’s also believed that love makes life beautiful. Filmy symptoms of being in love – You don’t feel hungry, you turn into an insomniac, you’ll suddenly start finding friends in stars and the moon, you smile to yourself, you day dream, you sing songs and dance like noone’s watching. Well, this song has all of these ingredients and a lot more. The joy of feeling that attraction towards somebody…a tug at the heartstrings is so beautifully expressed in this song. Shyama, bright and glowing, her expressive eyes dreamy and dancing along with her – her happiness so obvious. Geeta sounds equally happy, even in her plight of not knowing who exactly has taken over her heart. They are in such perfect sync with each other. I thoroughly love listening to this song and watching it. And Ashok Kumar’s amused expressions are to die for!

2. Dekho woh chaand chhup ke (Shart, 1954) : This movie had very nice songs. After debating over Na yeh chaand hoga and this, I finally chose this one. Very very romantic. Shyama and Deepak pledging their love for each other under the moonlight. Though the video is little melo-dramatic, especially the beginning where Deepak is so nervous, the song is very sweet – Hemant Da’s voice renders the soothing and subtle effect to it. I love the way Lata sings “Hum ho gaye tumhare….” and Shyama’s response to “Aisa naa ho ke humko raste mein chhod jao, Jaa kar kahin kisi ki duniya nayee basao” …her denial, the brief shake of her head, so brief that one would almost miss it and the smile that follows with the last antaraa. …

3. Lehraaye jiya balkhaye jiya (Shaarda,1957) : Well, Shyama was definitely very fond of dancing all around the house. She uses the space (covers the stage) very well while dancing and I find her pretty graceful as a dancer. She in fact flows with the song…in a state of joyful exuberance. She’s singing with joy when she gets to know that she’s getting married to Raj Kapoor, who she’s always been in love with. I think I am not wrong about the plot. I went into a shock after watching this movie, so dont remember things very clearly. It’s Asha singing for her here to Chitalkar’s composition. Shyama also won Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for her role in this movie.

4. Yeh lo mai haari piya (Aar Paar, 1954) : Though Shyama is confined to a car here and can’t dance, her priceless expressions and her eyes do such complete justice to the picturization of this timeless classic and Geeta Dutt’s flawless rendition. Guru Dutt is great playing hard to get…but for how long can he resist the magic? It was so difficult to choose just one song from this movie…it’s a true musical treasure house. I almost chose Jaa jaa jaa bewafaa, though sad it’s such a beautiful song. But finally I settled for this one. It’s very entertaining and one of it’s kind. All of them – OP Nayyar, Geeta Dutt and Shyama are at their stunning best!

5. Do naina tumhare pyaare pyaare (Shrimati ji, 1952) : Here we have dashing Nasir Khan and young Shyama dancing to a peppy and a romantic duet. I recently came across this song and fell in love with it. Geeta Dutt and Hemant Kumar sound so good together in this. And Jimmy’s composition is awesome – it’s a simple, sweet and a catchy song. Geeta Dutt’s singing suits Shyama’s chulbulapan so perfectly.

6. Achha ji maaf kardo (Musafir Khana, 1955) : OP Nayyar’s composition again, rendered by Rafi saab and Geeta Dutt for Karan Diwan and Shyama. Shyama is dancing again in the garden, doing her trademark steps. I especially like the way she actually counts on her fingers to “Dil par jo teer chalaye unka hisaab kardo” at 1:20 and the way she pats his arms to the same line at 2:56. The last antara would have been so much fun to watch if Karan had shown little more attitude. Everytime I see this song, how I keep wishing it had Shammi Kapoor or Dev Anand or Guru Dutt in it. There’s one more track in the movie Dil de daala which I am very fond of.

6. Mujhe mil gaya bahana teri deed ka (Barsaat Ki Raat, 1960) : Simple and a delightful song. Shyama dancing yet again singing her gratitude to the moon for bringing her so much happiness. She looks so radiant, like a chaand-ka-tukda herself. I had seen this movie very long ago, during the good old Doordarshan days. I don’t remember much of the story, apart from Zindagi bhar nahin bhoolenge and a part of Madhubala-Bharat Bhushan love story. I need to watch this movie again, at least for its songs and for Shyama and Madhubala. Phew, there are so many movies to watch and so many to re-watch!

7. Saiyan pyaara hai apna milan (Do Behne, 1959) : A very beautiful romantic song picturized on Shyama and Rajendra Kumar. I love the sets, it’s such a beautiful room. And Rajendra Kumar and Shyama make a very wonderful couple. The song, it’s picturization is so serene. And it somehow reminds me of Chhupa kar meri aankhon ko and Ek tera saath hum ko do jahan se pyaara hai.

8. Tumse hi meri zindagi (Apna Ghar, 1960) : Pretty Shyama and handsome Premnath pledging their love for each other. Geeta Dutt and Mukesh sing for them. The prelude is pretty fast and peppy but the song slows down once the mukhda begins. I just realized that all the songs so far have been extremely romantic. It wasn’t intentional but I’m a sucker for romantic songs, so can’t help it. Let me try, at least, try to end the post with two not-so-romantic songs ;-)

9. Tabiyat thik thi aur dil bhi bekraar na tha (Mirza Sahibaan, 1957) : Tabiyat thik thi aur dil bhi bekraar na tha, yeh tab ki baat hai jab kisi se pyaar na tha. Such a melodious song, though a little sad. Sardul Kwatra’s composition is awesome and Lata’s rendition flawless, as usual. For a change Shyama is not dancing with joy. This song is a true example of being helplessly in love. If only they had shown a glimpse of Shammi darling…sigh!!!!

10.Tumhe husn deke (Jabse Tumhe Dekha Hai,1964) : I hadn’t set any rules for choosing the songs for this post, I just went with the flow – flow of listing down which ever song came to my mind but I was still focussing on solos and duets. And now, since I couldnt get a glimpse of Shammi Kapoor in the previous song, I had to include this one. Few days ago I had mentioned in dustedoff’s post that anything with Shammi Kapoor would qualify for my every post. So, here it goes! A terrific qawali picturized on Shyama, Kumkum, Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Om Prakash, Bhagwan and many more. – one of the most flamboyant qawalis I have ever come across. Fabulous song, glamorous starcast, great dance and all wonderful people…aur kya chahiye, hai na? :-)

Chhupa kar meri aankhon ko and Oh Chaand jahan are two of my favourite songs but they are not a part of this list as I had already included them in my earlier posts.

There’s one more song that I recently heard on radio and have been dying to get my hands on it’s video. Dil unko utha ke de diya from Baap Bete. I am head over heels in love with this song, but as the video is not available, I decided to put it in the extras. The first 2 lines of the song is sung by Madan Mohan himself and then Lata follows. I hope somebody uploads its video soon on youtube. Log kehte hai dhoondne pe toh bhagwaan bhi mil jaate hai aur hum hai ke yahan ek video ke liye taras rahe hai.

And here’s one more not-romantic performance that I couldn’t list above.

Here’s wishing her good health and lots of happiness. To one of the most stunning and vivacious actresses!

The idea of seeing the Kapoor brothers share the same screen space was what first prompted me to buy this movie. But inspite of it having my Shammi darling, I somehow kept postponing watching it for a long time. The picture on the cd cover always managed to demotivate me from watching it – the trio of Meena Kumari, Raj Kapoor and Nimmi give such a depressing look, that every time I took the cd, I just ended up keeping it aside, till now.

As always, it was a song that finally made me watch the movie. I had heard Stella o stella from Return of Mr. Superman, and I sort of liked it for the humour in it. One fine day, somebody had posted this song on facebook and one of my friends had commented on it saying that this song was first picturized on Shammi Kapoor and Kumkum in Char Dil Char Rahen in 1959 and then was used again in Return of Mr. Superman in 1960!

The movie opens very beautifully, with Raj Kapoor making quite an entry into the village and a conversation that leaves one wondering….

Chavli (Meena Kumari) recognizes Govinda (Raj Kapoor), and though he finds her familiar he can’t exactly place her. So he heads home. Govinda is Chaudhary’s son. And he had been sent to the town to study when he was a little boy. Now he has finished his schooling and has come back home.

When he inquires about the girl he had met on his way, he finds out that she’s Chavli – who is an achhoot and a bal-vidhwa (an untouchable and a child widow).

As soon as he finds out who she is, he goes to meet her. He finds her sitting beside a stream.

Govinda : Pehchana mujhe? (Did you recognize me?)

Chavli : Hmmm

Govinda : Pata hai kitne baras ke baad mile hai? (Do you have an idea after how long we have met today?)

Next, we are taken to a flashback where two little kids are playing. And the entire village gossiping about an Ahir guy playing with a Chamar girl which is not acceptable in the society. (The Ahir are a caste of cowherds, milkers, and cattle breeders. Chamar (“tanner”; from the Sanskrit Charmakara) is a prominent occupational caste in India, Pakistan and Nepal. Chamar is a Dalit sub-caste. Traditionally, their social status was low in the Indian caste system because of the association with tanning and thus were considered as untouchables, but in modern days they are one of the progressive castes in India – Courtesy wikipedia). It happens that little Chavli (Baby Naaz) has been expelled from the local school. When Govinda comes to know of this he voluntarily drops off saying that he wont go to a school that doesn’t let his Chavli study. So they spend their day playing and running around the village together.

When Choudhary comes to know about it, he sends his son to the town to study, as a punishment. And now, he has finally returned after so many years. He tells Chavli that he will stay back now, he wont go back to the town.

Chavli : Yahan rehke kya karega? Sheher jaayega toh baabu banega, coat patloon pehnega, bungla mein rahega, motor gaadi mein pon-pon karta phirega. (But what will you do here? If you go to the town, you’ll become a gentleman – wear coat and pant, live in a bunglow, roam around in a car)

Govinda : I will look after my father’s cattles and will teach in the school here. But I am not going back.

He goes back home and tells his father of his decision to stay back. Choudhary is very happy to hear that and says his mother will be happier than him. He reveals that his wife has gone to Choudhary Malkan Singh to ask his daughter, Lajjo’s hands for Govinda.

Govinda tells his father that he won’t marry Lajjo but will marry Chavli instead. He doesn’t believe in caste and religion. And he cares a damn about what the others would think of his decision.

He takes Chavli and goes to the temple and asks the Pujari (Nana Plasikar) to get them married.

But the Pujari suggests that if he’s rebelling against everybody and getting married to an achhoot, then why do it quietly in the temple without any witness. He should go to Chavli’s house dressed as a proper groom with proper band and baaja, marry her and bring her home. Govinda sees sense in this and goes to all his friends in the village inviting them for his wedding. But all of them refuse to be a part of such a disgraceful alliance except for one. So the two of them set out for Chavli’s place.

This causes agitation among the Ahirs and Chamars in the village. But as both groups are against the marriage, they unite and decide to stop the wedding. Choudhary goes to meet Chavli and offers everything he has to her –

When Govinda arrives, he sees that Chavli’s hut is on fire. He runs to save her, but all he can find there is an anklet of hers. He sees all the Ahirs and Chamars there and reaches a conclusion that they have burned his Chavli to death.

He announces – Aaj se mera koi baap nahin, ghar nahin, gaon nahin, jaat-biradari nahin, koi dharam nahin…yeh sab is aag mein jal gayi. Aaj se main akela hoon. And he sets off. He walks for days together mourning and finally reaches a crossroad. He finds an anklet there, which is exactly the same as the one he had found at Chavli’s house. The thought that Chavli might be alive brightens him up but he doesn’t know which way to go from there. He sees a car coming and he asks the driver, Dilawar Khan (Ajit) if he has seen a girl passing by. When Dilawar says no, he decides to sit right there and wait for Chavli.

Dilawar is Nawaab Saab’s (Anwar Hussain) driver. His Munshi (Rashid Khan) tells Nawaab about Pyaari (Nimmi), a new tawaif in town who sings very well. Nawaab sends for Pyaari and she sings for him. He’s very pleased with her and is ready to bestow her with all his wealth but she refuses.

Dilawar hates her because he thinks she’s of the kind who would rob his master of all his wealth. But when he learns that she refused to take any of it, he develops a soft corner for her. And before long Pyari and Dilawar are in love. One fine day Nawaab loses all his power and riches and decides to go to Bombay to start a new life. He offers to take Pyari and her mother with him and promises to look after them lifelong. But Pyari chooses Dilawar over Nawaab.

Dilawar and Pyari soon have a misunderstanding between them because Dilawar, though is in love with Pyari and wants to marry her, he doesn’t want the extra responsibility of looking after her mother. And Pyari refuses to leave her mother alone. She says, other women have families, so the daughters can leave them when they get married, but a prostitute doesn’t have a family, all that she has is her daughter. And now that she has found love, she cannot be so selfish and leave her mother all alone. At the same crossroads, they part ways and go in different directions.

Johnny (Shammi Kapoor) makes an entry next (finally). Rastogis – Mr. and Mrs. Rastogi, their little kid along with their aaya, Stella (Kumkum) are on their way to Hotel Parbat on a vacation when their car breaks down right at the crossroads. Johnny offers to fix their car and in return they give him a lift till Hotel Parbat.

Johnny is in search of a job. So he goes to meet Mr. Ferreira (David), the Manager. He doesn’t have to work too hard to impress Mr. Ferreira and he soon gets the job of a waiter cum dishwasher at the Hotel.

Johnny being Johnny, is smitten by Stella at first sight and he doesn’t waste much time in getting his feelings across to her. And with all his cute ways of trying to impress her, Stella cant resist his charm for long either. Before long, the two are madly in love with each other.

Stella gets a letter from her mother one day saying that her father has been diagnosed with tuberculosis and will have to be sent to the sanitarium immediately, which would cost them Rs. 500. Johnny takes up the responsibility of earning that amount required for his would-be father-in-laws treatment.
There’s this sweet sequence where Johnny and Stella talk about their dreams, their future.

Johnny goes and asks Ferreira for extra work. He confides in him that Stella’s father is not well and he needs to earn extra money for his treatment.

In our films no love story can go smooth, unless it’s a Rajshri film, without a third person forming a traingle and plotting cunning ways to create misunderstandings between the two lovebirds. And this one’s no different. Ferreira, who also has an eye for Stella sees this as an opportunity and comes up with a plan to land Johnny in trouble. He gives Johnny the charge of supplying the guests at the hotel with alcohol, which is legally prohibited in the premises of Hotel Parbat. Johnny blind in love doesn’t see the danger this task imposes, he sees it as an opportunity to make quick money and promises to himself that he’ll quit the job once he earns 500 bucks.

Stella is quite disappointed when she learns what Johnny is upto. She catches him red-handed when he goes to deliver Rastogi’s order of Whiskey. He somehow manages to convince her that he’ll avoid trouble and he won’t do it for long. Just when he manages to manaofy her and all’s well between them, Ferreira gets Jhonny arrested!

He gets released after three months and unaware that Ferriera was behind all this, he first goes to Ferreira to collect his money. He asks him if he knows where Stella is. That’s when Ferriera introduces Stella as Mrs. Ferriera. Poor Johnny is heart broken. Angry and murderous, he tries to kill Ferriera.

He wanders around for sometime and then starts up a garage at the same crossroads to keep himself occupied. At one point of time, Johnny sings one line of the sad version of my song, Stella o stella o stella, tera johnny ab tak hai akela…

At this point, Nirmal (P Jairaj) makes an appearance. He is a well-educated man and reaches just in time to help all the protagonists of the story. He himself being a socialist, spreads awareness among people on what socialism can do. He makes speeches on exploitation of the poor by rich, lower castes by higher castes in the society etc…these are things that ordinary people can relate to. Thus, he manages to attract lots of people with his socialist theory. He comes up with a proposal of building a proper road that would connect all the 4 destinations that the crossroads leads to.

There are lots of Contractors fighting for that contract, including Nawaab saab and Ferriera. But it’s Nirmal and his battalion of ordinary people who win it and start building the road.

Will they be successful in achieving their goal and proving the the so-called-rakhwales of the society that given a chance nothing’s impossible for them? With people like Nawwab and Ferriera in the opposition what are the challenges they will face? How is this mission connected to the earlier love stories? Will any of those 3 stories have a happy ending? Are any of these stories interconnected?

Frankly speaking, I don’t know how to rate this movie. It ended so abruptly, in fact the ending itself was missing from the cd. I could kill eagle videos for this! As though deleting the song, and lots of other parts of the movie was not enough, they had to compromise with the ending as well :-(
It was as if I was watching the movie on tv and kept having frequent power cuts. There were so many missing links that I had to use my own imagination to put all the pieces of the story together.

But having said that, I did enjoy watching this movie. To start with, it had been so long since I saw one that it was nice to see such a power packed performance. Everybody was fabulous! K Abbas has done a good job as a director. There were so many social issues addressed in the movie – caste system, religions (the 3 couples in the movie belonged to 3 different religions), power, money, corruption etc. And the best part was, none of the stories were dragged for too long. Though there was a little bit of rona-dhona, it was just for sometime and the story quickly moved to the next couple. Except for Nirmal’s speeches, which were a little preachy at times, must say it was quite fast-paced. I guess, I must give a little bit of credit to Eagle videos as well for wiping away so many scenes :-P

I don’t know how many songs were there originally in the movie, the only ones that I got to see were few Lata Numbers that Pyaari sings for Nawaab saab (Koi maane na maane, Intezaar aur abhi , Jab main kehti hoon), one Meena Kapoor (Anil Biswas’s wife) song picturized on Chavli (Kachchi hai umariya) and the last song, which the entire crew sings as they build the road (Saathi re bhai re). I won’t say I loved the music of this movie, I found it pretty average. Anil Biswas was the Composer and Sahir Ludhyanvi the lyricist. Except for Saathi re bhai re, I dont even remember having heard the rest of the songs. And I was too disappointed that there were no songs picturized on Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor to be able to appreciate the rest :-(

I watched this movie on Valentines day, but was too occupied to put it up here. I truly adore the lead pair of Nutan and Dev Anand, and this movie has some nice songs…these two reasons were more than enough for me. But I had no idea as to what the story would be like. Fortunately or unfortunately, internet was down that day, so I couldn’t even read the review before watching it. But now, I’m glad I didn’t because the review on imdb is not quite true and if I had read it I would have never watched this movie on that day.

Before I start with the story, this movie has nothing to do with Baarish…and if I remember correctly, there was not even a single rain/baarish scene in the entire movie (at least in what I saw, don’t know if there was anything in the deleted/edited parts). But it does begin with this statement –

Translation : Just like how the rain washes away the dirt and brings along new hopes, honesty and sincerity wipes away crime. The story of Baarish begins and is set against a village backdrop where crime is a way of living.

Gopal (Nana Palsikar) works for Boss (Jagdish Sethi?).

On an errand for Boss, Gopal flees leaving the maal behind when police turn up and goes into a hiding. Ramu (Dev Anand), Gopal’s brother is pretty bossy with the other guys in the chawl. After a petty clash with some guys, where he’s rescued by Mohan (Anwar Hussain), he goes singing Dane dane pe likha hai . Don’t know why but Ramu is obsessed with Kabootar (Dove). He even has a pair of them sticking out of his pockets ;-)

He doesn’t know for sure what his brother does, but he knows that he works for Boss and has a hunch that Boss is upto no good.Gopal comes home after a few days. Ramu, who was pretty worried about Gopal’s disappearance, is delighted to see him and the brothers sit down to have dinner.

But before they finish, two of Boss’s men come with a message for Gopal. Gopal goes to meet Boss, who’s furious with him for messing up the deal. Gopal tells him that he’s fed up of such work and doesn’t want to work for him any more. He wants to leave the world of crime and do something legal to earn a living.

But Boss gets him killed. Ramu sees a person stabbing Gopal and feels that Boss is behind Gopal’s death and goes to tell him that he’ll take revenge.

Boss, orders Mohan, one of his employees and Ramu’s best friend, to talk Ramu out of it or else he will have to kill him as well.

He goes to meet Ramu and tries to calm him down. Mohan get s aletter from home. He shows it to Ramu but since Ramu can’t read or write (yes, inspite of being city bred, he’s an illitrate) Mohan reads it himself and tells Ramu that his father is ill and they owe lots of money to villagers. As he’s busy himself and can’t make it, he asks Ramu for a favour – to go to the village and give some money to his parents. Ramu refuses at first but at the end he agrees to do as Mohan says and he sets out for his village.

And the moment he enters the village, there are lots of village belles hitting on him and there’s a little broad-daylight teasing.

Unable to locate Mohan’s house, and with all those girls worrying him, he gets frustrated. And that’s when Chanda (Nutan) calls him from a tree top.

He ignores her and keeps walking. There’s a fun song Yeh muh aur daal masoor ki (love the faces that Chanda makes in this song). He loses his patience by the time the song ends and they both get into a fight. A passer-by comes and helps him by showing him the way to Mohan’s house. But Chanda hears him asking for Mohan’s address and tries to divert him. She is none other than Mohan’s sister and thinking it’s someone who they owe money to, she goes home and scribbles “Sab Kaashi gaye hai, saal bhar baad lautenge” (All have gone to Kaashi and will return back only after a year) on the wall of their house. Then she locks the door from outside, goes into the house (don’t know how she manages to do that) and waits for Ramu to leave.

But Ramu doesn’t know how to read or write, he tries hard to figure out what’s written but in vain and at the end he concludes that it has to be – “Mohan Lal ke pita Girdhari Lal ka makaan” (Mohan La’l’s father Girdhari Lal’s house). So he sits at the doorstep waiting for someone to come home.

He hears a Kabootar cooing and that brings a broad smile on his face.

He climbs the wall to catch the Kabootar. It flies aways but he discovers something else.

It doesn’t take long for him to figure out what Chanda has been upto. Furious, he breaks the door open and enters the house just in time to see Girdhari Lal passing away. But just before he dies, assuming that it’s his son Mohan, Girdhari makes him promise that he’ll look after his wife and daughter. Delirious as he is, he can’t even recognize that it’s not Mohan.

But Ramu has no intention of taking up their responsibility. He’s all set to return to the city when Maa (Lalita Pawar) insists on coming with him. She emotionally blackmails him saying that Mohan is all they have now and if only he could take them to Mohan, they would never trouble him again. He agrees to this on a condition that Chanda stays away from him or else he would kill her and not even be sorry for it.

After coming back, he first goes to Mohan’s house but soon finds out that he has been arrested for a theft. He goes to meet him at the prison.

He goes and pleads the inspector to lock him up instead and let Mohan go! But that doesn’t seem to work. Also, Mohan doesn’t want his mother and sister to know what he’s been upto. So, unwilligly Ramu lies that Mohan is out of town and takes them to his house.

Chanda keeps cribbing so much – the house is so small and untidy, if her brother had been there she would have lived like a princess etc etc…Ramu gets so irritated and they keep fighting all the time (but their fights are cute). Inquisitive neighbours peep in to ask Ramu who they are and where they’ve come from, if he’s married to the girl and their questions just go on and on…

When Ramu goes out to buy grocery, Chanda goes out to get water and the other guys in the neighbourhood worry her and sing Zulf hai (quite a funny picturisation). He returns just as the song gets over and when he sees what’s going on, holds her hand and drags her to the house. And yes, she keeps screaming and telling him to keep away from him.

I don’t know what happens in between – how they reconcile. In the next scene they are sitting on the terrace singing praises and admitting their love for each other followed by a song Kehte hai pyaar jisko.

As expected, people around start gossiping all the more after they see the two of them singing and dancing on the terrace. Maa and Chanda both feel that the only way to end all this is to get Chanda married to Ramu.

But Ramu refuses to marry her. He feels he’s illitrate and jobless and that Chanda deserves someone better. At this, the mother-daughter duo decide to leave the house and go back to their village. Ramu tries to stop them but they just don’t listen to him. Finally, this is what he says to stop them from going back (can’t help laughing thinking of Chanda’s expression).

Boss tells Ramu that he would sponsor his wedding – so what if Gopal is not there, he’s always seen Ramu as his own brother and as long as he’s around Ramu will never have to worry about anything. Ramu is very grateful and promises Boss that he would do anything for him in return for this favour.

Chanda and Ramu get married, but just as the ceremony gets over, Ramu is summoned by Boss.

Boss and Harya (Madan Puri), his assistant, have setup a trap to kill Ramu.

When Chanda hears of Ramu’s death there’s a sad version of Kehte hai pyaar jisko. And she goes to commit suicide herself.

Will Ramu survive the attack? What happens to Chanda and Maa? Will Mohan ever be released from Prison? Will Boss get caught for all his misdeeds?

On the whole it’s a nice movie. Loved Chanda-Ramu fights and their romance. And the songs, Kehte hai pyaar jisko and Phir wohi chaand. Itwas nice to see Dev Anand roaming around shirtless/ with his shirt unbuttoned even when we was wearing one ;-) (Now I know where Salman Khan got his inspiration from). I had read somewhere that he was a big sensation in those days, one of the most good looking stars and women went gaga over him. Wonder what effect this had on them.

The supporting cast included quite a lot of actors but sad that they hardly had anything to do –

Lots of people and that too people with potential but all these people were hardly used. Lalita Pawar in such a bechari role (forget bechari, there’s hardly any substance in her role) , I somehow couldn’t digest; same with Madan Puri. Kumkum and Mehmood just make an appearance in 2 scenes, Helen in one dance, Nana Palsikar for around 5 mins.

One thing that’s given lots of importance is Kabootar :-)

It’s neither very evil nor very preachy. It’s pretty entertaining and if I had to rate it, I would give it 6.5 on 10.

It being Dilip Kumar’s birthday last week, I decided to watch a movie of his. Though I watched it on Saturday (12th Dec), I didnt have time to put it up here till now.

Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari come together in this hilarious flick directed by S U Sunny- a true fairy-tale. There’s a prince, a princess, a villian and lots of fights. They both look so good throughout. Music by Naushad is very melodious. Dilip Kumar went on to bag a filmfare ward for Best Actor once again for his role as Rajkumar Dhivendra Pratap Bahadur Chandrabhan.

Maharaj Dhiraj Rana Chandrabhan of Kailash Nagar is long dead and Deevan Veer Singh has been taking care of the kingdom all this while.

On the occasion of Holi, Deevan addresses the crowd announcing the coronation of Rajkumar Dhivendra Pratap Bahadur Chandrabhan (Dilip Kumar) the following month.

Rajkumar, however, is not present during the announcement and Deewan mentions that he should have been there. Also says that this is the last time he’s addressing the crowd. From now on, their would-be king would take over.

This is when our crown prince makes his entry carrying his pet mongoose on his shoulder.

On being asked by Deevan he says he was delayed because of his pet and goes on to add that animals are more loyal than humans.

Deewan’s wife, whom Rajkumar calls chachi (Leela Chitnis), is extremely fond of him and has brought him up like her own son, Surinder (on extreme right. I dont know what his real name is).

Everybody is happy about Rajkumar’s coronation and is busy cheering up for him when his mongoose, sets itself free and runs away creating a havoc (must see the girls creaming and running, it’s very funny).

Chachi wants Rajkumar to get married to Rajkumari Chandramukhi (Meena Kumari) of Rajgarh and has sent her an invitation to come for Rajkumar’s coronation the following month. When Surinder tells Rajkumar about Chandramukhi he desont seem all that interested. But is smitten when he sees a picture of her and says he’s so happy that he actually feels like playing holi.

And there plays holi in Kailash Nagar and Chandramukhi plays in Rajgarh, singing the same song Tan ranglo ji. Her Senapati (Jeevan) likes her but she just cant stand him.

The Maharaja of Rajgarh is pleased about the proposal from Kailashnagar. But he is ill himself and when Chandramukhi comes to give him his medicine, he tells her about the invitation for Rajkumar’s coronation and also about the proposal.

He shows her a picture of Rajkumar that chachi has sent and asks his daughter to set forth to Kailash Nagar. She falls in love with him almost immediately (and how could she not?).

Senapati says it’s not safe for her to go along and that he would accompany her but she refuses and starts for Kailash Nagar with the rest of the army.

In the meantime, there’s a murder being plotted in Kailash Nagar. Deewan wants to kill Rajkumar, so that his son, Surinder can sit on the throne. He trains a very poisonous snake to kill him.

Every year artists come from various places to showcase their talents (singing, dancing). Rajlakshmi (Kumkum) is one of them. She comes from a village nearby.

She comes to a gathering headed by Maharaj (that’s what everybody calls him, I guess he is the music guru) to show her performance.

Rajlakshmi has come here to dance, so Maharaj tells the musicians present there to play music but they refuse saying they wont play for someone so young (as though it’s a disgrace).

Rajkumar comes forwards saying he would play as well as sing for her. Though reluctant at first, she agrees to dance to his tune after he challenges her. And finally we come to Madhuban mein radhika naache re . When Rajkumar is busy singing, Deewan’s people come and leave the snake there but before it can do anything, Rajkumar’s pet mongoose comes and kills the snake.

Chachi and Surinder are shocked to know that someone wants to kill Rajkumar and they ask him to be extra careful. Same night, Rajkumar is attacked again while he’s sleeping.

But he fights and they run away. He knows Deewan’s behind all these attacks. So he goes and confronts him. Deewan vehemently denies the accusations against him. And while he keeps Rajkumar occupied in a conversation, he signals his people to attack him again. Luckily Rajkumar sees them in the mirror and fights back. He finally tells Deewan that he’s leaving the kingdom and going. In his own words “Agar bhagwan ke ghar mein nyaya hai toh kisi din aap yehi taaj mere sar pe dekhenge” (if there’s justice, then you’ll see this crown on me someday)

Deewan’s still not happy. He wants Rajkumar dead at any cost. So he sends his people to kill Rajkumar and bring his deadbody back. So they follow him. When they witness him falling off a cliff, they take it for granted he is dead and his deadbody cant be found. Thus, they return back to the palace.

Rajkumar manages to pull himself back and goes in search of a place to stay overnight. He finally finds a place and asks if he can spend the night there but is refused, reason being Rajkumari Chandramukhi, who’s is halting there on her way to Kailash Nagar.

Knowing that Chandramukhi is there, he cant bring himself to leave the place without meeting her.

Next three screencaps will tell you all what he does next :

Yup, he chops Tuntun’s hair, makes a beard out of it and goes to Chandramukhi disguised as a Sadhu Maharaj!!! When Tuntun appears, terrified about losing her hair, Sadhu Maharaj says she must have committed some sin and that’s what she’s being punished for. Not just that, he gives her the silliest remedy ever :

Anyways, he tells Chandramukhi that if she goes to a place that he tells her at a particular time, she’ll get to meet Rajkumar Dhivendra.

Excited about meeting her prince charming, she goes and they sing Do sitaron ka zameen par (it’s more of a hide-and-seek song, he tries to hide, conceal himself behind trees and bushes while she goes searching for him).

When they finally face each other at the end of the song (oh check the curls on her forehead), she goes running to her room and stands infront of a mirror (wonder if she was checking how she looked?)

But, alas, she hardly gets few seconds to admire herself, she’s abducted by her Senapati’s men. Hearing her scream Rajkumar follows them and manages to rescue her safe and sound singing Koi pyaar ki dekhe jaadugari. This entires sequence of abduction, following and rescue is totally crazy and hilarious.

They are totally lost in each other when Senapati’s people attack them again. They lock Rajkumar in a hut and set it on fire first, then take Chandramukhi and go.

His horse however saves him. Rajlakshmi finds him on the horseback, injured and unconscious. She nurses him back to good health and falls in love with him during the process :-)

He learns that Rajkumari Chandramukhi is held captive by Senapati in a fort. So he sets forth to set her free.

When Chandramukhi tries to kill herself, Senapati decides to call people to sing and dance in order to entertain her. And our Sangeetkar Maharaj Kohinoor (Rajkumar Dhivendra in disguise, check out his beard) makes his entry into the fort singing Zara man ki kewadiya khol

After the initial qualms, finally when Chandramukhi recognizes him, she listens to him and follows his instructions. And when she sings Dil mein baji pyar ki shehnaiyan, Senapati beleives that Chandramukhi is slowly falling in love with him.

Check out her curls again!!! (no no I’m not obsessed with her curls, at least not yet ;-) ). To convince Senapati that Chandramukhi has totally forgotten Rajkumar, they sing a duet Chalenge teer jab dil par. But during all this drama, Sangeetkar Maharaj Kohinoor’s real identity is revealed and he’s is captured.

Held in chains, he’s blinded by a vengeful Rajlaxmi.

Chandramukhi, prisoned herself, sings Yeh kya zindagi hai . She’s left with no choice, either marry Senapati or witness the death of her blind Rajkumar.

What will she do? Will she marry Senapati to save Rajkumar’s life? And will Senapati leave him alive either ways? What are Rajlakshmi’s true intentions? And what happens to Kailash Nagar? Was it only Deevan plotting Rajkumar’s murder or was the entire family into it?

If for nothing else, at least for eye candy (both Dilip and Meena look amazing), the film’s worth watching! And trust me Dilip is at his mischievious best! First half is extremely entertaining. Second half is full of drama and sacrifices and a death. But it’s still fun and a must-watch.

Oops, I almost forgot this scene where Dilip becomes Jeevan’s mirror image – it’s a total laughter riot!